Rochester City Court Judge: Ellen M. Yacknin

Judge Ellen M. Yacknin

1. What is the last issue on which you changed your views or position and why?

Throughout the country, states use various methods to select their judges. Some or all judges in thirty-nine states, including New York, are elected to the bench. All state judges in nineteen states and all federal judges are appointed to the bench.

Elective systems and appointive systems of judge selection have advantages and disadvantages. In the past, I believed that an elective system was preferable because of the potential for a more diverse and representative judiciary when voters elected their judges than when governmental leaders appointed the judges. Over time, however, I have come to believe that the disadvantages of an elective system of judge selection outweigh both that system's advantages as well as the disadvantages of an appointive system.

The factor that has changed my mind has been the increasing amount of money that a candidate must raise to run for an elected judicial position. Statistics show that judicial campaigns nationwide are becoming even more expensive than legislative and executive campaigns. The need to raise vast amounts of money to conduct a judicial campaign is particularly troublesome because judges have a professional and ethical responsibility to decide cases objectively without favoritism. To address this problem, many states have implemented alternate methods of judge selection, such as publicly financed judicial elections, merit appointments, merit retentions, and election/appoint hybrid systems. In my view, it is time for New York to consider such alternate systems.

2. What website or cable television channel do you go to most often for political information and why?

I do not rely on cable television for political information. Instead, the news sources to which I turn most often for political information are National Public Radio and the New York Times website for national political news, and the YNN website for state and local political news. In my opinion, these three news sources provide objective, non-partisan and fact-based political information that helps listeners and readers make informed opinions.

3. Name someone you've known who you seek to emulate and tell us why.

Shortly after law school, I accepted a job as the Confidential Law Clerk to Judge John T. Curtin, the Chief Judge for the federal trial court in Buffalo, N.Y. As his Law Clerk, I worked side by side with Judge Curtin both in and out of the courtroom. Judge Curtin never demonstrated one persona when he was on the bench and another when he was off. To the contrary, when he was on the bench presiding over cases, when he was in his chambers meeting with contentious attorneys, and when he was walking down the street on the way to lunch, he was always kind, firm, fair and thoughtful to the people with whom he interacted. Judge Curtin taught me that the manner in which a person interacts with another person, regardless of the circumstances, makes an important difference in people's lives. Both before and since I became a judge, I have strived to follow Judge Curtin's example.

4. What is the biggest lesson you have learned since launching your current campaign?

In every campaign for elective office, the candidate is open to public scrutiny. Both accurate and inaccurate Information about the candidate is often distributed. In this campaign I have learned that regardless of public perceptions, it is important to be true to oneself and to one's principles. Throughout this campaign I have kept in mind the sage words of Rabbi Hillel: "If not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"

5. What charitable organization(s) do you most avidly support and why?

Among the many organizations I support is the Rochester Education Foundation. That organization, founded in 2003, is dedicated to supporting the education of children in Rochester's public school system. As a Rochester City Court Judge, I am passionate about doing my best to help the young people who appear before me to engage in positive rather than negative behaviors. I often implore the teenagers to finish high school or to obtain their GEDs so that they have a chance of success. REF's goal is identical to mine; namely, to support the single most important resource a child can have to succeed: an education.